NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : chris brown - sweet love

seeing those symbols really makes me anticipate if he'll live up to his word of revolutionising album packaging with 'fortune's artwork...

NEW LIVE ALBUM & LIMITED EDITION ARTWORK : florence + the machine - mtv unplugged (HQ) & never let me go (white vinyl edition)

here's the update for the florence + the machine 'mtv unplugged' album. still loving that logo and the 

bifur typeface used for "unplugged"..yurrrm!

AND in other flo' news, the latest limited edition white vinyl single (a design collaboration between herself and fashion legend karl lagerfeld) for 'never let me go' is available for pre-order on her website. like the other editions released before, the 12" vinyl is housed in a "screen printed, foiled and hand numbered sleeve, featuring a unique series of photographic prints".

NEWS : ricki-lee shoots album artwork...

my latest fave aussie pop princess has posted pictures on her facebook showing her at the photoshoot for her album artwork! below you can see a "mood board" showing some ideas for the direction the styling will take. it reads: "HAIR: soft waves. FACE: natural/bronzed/feminine. potential to add pop pink lip liner." as you can see, the board also includes some images of some photo inspirations...such as the flawless images from j.lo's 'brave' era! <3 looking forward to seeing the results :)

THE WEEK'S MOST POPULAR! - 25th/31st march

1. (-) one direction - up all night (limited yearbook edition)

2. (up one) flo rida - wild ones (ft. sia)

3. (re-entry) sean paul - she doesn't mind

4. (down two) jls - proud (sport relief single 2012)

5. (re-entry) gym class heroes - ass back home (ft. neon hitch)

! updated ! NEW LIMITED EDITION ARTWORK : rihanna - talk that talk (the rihanna navy box & navy officer's chest) (collectible charms pin)

so the other day i posted my cover-to-cover review of riri's 'talk that talk (navy officer's chest)' set and one beady eyed reader noticed that the charms pin (see above) i had in my version of the edition, differed to their own (see below). it appears that the "R" logo charm is on all the pins, but the ones either side differ (a bleeding heart, a skull and crossbones, a navy anchor and a revolver). which led me to think, how many other charms are there? (the collector in me is raging haha!) has anyone else out there got a copy of the package, do they have any other kind of charms? get in touch, simonsez would LOVE to know :)

(thanks to Emmily!)

another reader has sent in a picture of their navy chest's charms, showing that you could receive a lock or a rose charm!

(thanks to @ssRIHmix)

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : the saturdays - 30 days

the girls' new single artwork has an air of the fan-made about it, by keeping a bit too close in design to the album artwork of 'on your radar (we originally saw these images in the album's booklet artwork, take a look here). i'm all for a strong visual theme...but this feels like there was no effort put in at all! but they all look stunning and i do quite like the colouring in the design...

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : jennifer lopez - dance again (ft. pitbull)

loving that blue and that she's keeping the revival of the j.lo moniker. to me this cover screams mariah carey: the hair, the guys, the writhing, the photoshop...LOVE IT! hello to the next era of j to tha l-o :)

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : ricki-lee - do it like that

not a whole lotta difference between this and the remix single artwork, but it's colourful, fun and the song is awesome...so two thumbs up from me!

NEW REMIX SINGLE ARTWORK : dev - kiss my lips (ft. fabolous) (the remixes)

also found another buzz cover from dev, for album track 'kiss my lips'.

NEW ALBUM ARTWORK : dev - night the sun came up (US/canada edition & UK/european repackage)

this "pink version" will act as the cover for the album's release in the US & canada and as the repackage cover in the UK/europe (including new tracks 'naked (ft. enrique iglesias) and a new track with timbaland). hoping this release has an expanded booklet, as i was majorly disappointed that the "purple version" didn't have anymore of those exquisite illustrations!

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : dawn richard - bombs

to generate buzz for her new EP 'armor on', dawn releases the banger 'bombs'. the artwork is giving me surrious kalenna vibes (have a look at the artwork for her own EP 'chamber of diaries')...have these two former dirty money colleagues not given each other a call to discuss which colours/outfits to avoid so they don't look like they're copying one another?...

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : kat graham - put your graffiti on me

the 'vampire diaries' actress has released multiple independent buzz singles, but the artwork has always been a lil' too messy for me, so i was waiting for her debut major label release. and hurr it is :) any song with "graffiti" in the title will always use the obvious for the cover artwork (*spray can alert*), but this still comes across as solid and the song is fire...so it's all good with me!

NEW LOGO ARTWORK : madonna 'truth or dare' fragrance

should of posted this some tiiiiime ago, oops! loving the mart & marcus photographs popping up throughout this era, snaps for madge :)

NEW EP ARTWORK : ameriie - the prelude

to drum up some noise for her forthcoming album, amer-double i-e is releasing 'the prelude'. anyone else getting some riri 'we found love' realness from this??

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : justin bieber - boyfriend

i originally wrote about the biebs' competition for fans to decide his new single artwork. they went with the "hands in his hair" one...but so all those who were really rooting for the "looking longingly to the left" one didn't feel left out, they decided to mash them together. snaps all round.

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : azealia banks - fuck up the fun (ft. diplo)

not as uh-marzing as her other artworks... i think this is just a cover to attach to the buzz song on her soundcloud page. really feeling them perez hilton vibes though...

NEW BOXSET ARTWORK : madonna - original album series & the complete studio albums (1983-2008)

celebrating the end of her contract with warner music, madonna's back catalogue is being repackaged into some delightful boxsets for the uber fans (or for those who want to catch up on some major madonna history before they purchase 'MDNA'...)! the first is a 5-disc set of her most successful albums ('true blue', 'like a prayer', 'ray of light', 'music' and 'confessions on a dancefloor'). for me, the artwork is not great resembling a cover of one of those unofficial collections, that seem thrown together and ignore any sort of concept that the albums held (also the type looks nasty as hell...). take a look at the 'original album series' artwork below:

the second is a much more extensive collection of all ELEVEN studio albums (the previous five as well as 'madonna', 'like a virgin', 'erotica', 'bedtime stories','american life' and 'hard candy'), very originally titled 'the complete studio albums (1983-2008)'. i'm liking this artwork much more then the smaller boxset, maybe as it shows off more of her majorly iconic covers, but more so as it feels a little subtler. also that logo/nameplate in the centre seems to hark back to the 'the immaculate collection' artwork, always love me some throwback nods to old pieces!

the image below shows how the discs will be housed, in individual slipcases. unfortunately it doesn't look like there will be any booklet/foldout included and each of the discs look like they are the original designs...so nothing new here and the only artwork you'll really get will be the cover of each album :/

simonsez sidenote: take a look at my review of kylie minogue's 'the collection : the albums (2000-2010)', very similar to madonna's album packages, based around kyles' studio albums from the noughties. i've brought this collection up as the design for this piece was awesome, it managed to stay true to each of the individual album's artwork but also create a running theme linking them all together as a new piece in itself. for someone like madonna, who has put a lot of emphasis on artwork in the past, this new set of collections makes me think she has not had much (if any) input in it's design.

THE WEEK'S MOST POPULAR! - 18th/24th march

1. (-) one direction - up all night (limited yearbook edition)

2. (new entry) jls - proud (sport relief single 2012)

3. (-) flo rida - wild ones (ft. sia)

4. (down two) stooshe - love me (ft. travie mccoy)

5. (new entry) labrinth - last time

this week saw a lot of interest in jls' charity single 'proud', with the sport relief event happening on friday 23rd. labrinth's new release also drew a lot of attention and rightfully so as that artwork is some 'blade runner'-esque delightfulness! that was "the week's most popular"!

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : cher lloyd - want u back (US version)

and so cher's US invasion begins with the unveiling of the US version of the 'want u back' single cover. gone are the kiddy illustrations (from the UK versions of her album and single artworks) and also the 11 year old rapper, astro's verse...girl ain't playing :D

COMPETITION : katy perry is getting her willy wonka on!

to celebrate the release of kitty purry's 3D concert movie, she has decided to hide a golden ticket in one of the 'teenage dream : the complete confection's (unfortunately only available in the US and canada...major sadface). the ticket will allow the lucky winner to attend the premiere of her concert movie and be wined & dined. look at the video below for more deets:

NEW EP & SINGLE ARTWORK : the wanted - the wanted (US/canada EP) & gold forever (US version)

i had originally posted this artwork as the wanted's debut US album, when in fact it will be released as a 7-track EP.

also, their second US single has been announced as 'gold forever' (which was originally their charity song for comic relief last year) and now features an updated artwork:

NEW REMIX SINGLE ARTWORK : ricki-lee - do it like that (remix)

season 2 australian idol alumni ricki-lee is back with a bangggerrr! only the remix of her latest's single 'do it like that' has surfaced so far, but i'm betting the official version will be just as hot :) check out the colourful artwork below:

DISCOVERED : willy moon - yeah yeah

one of my favourittte blogs (theprophetblog.net) has featured willy for a while now and as soon as i saw this artwork i had to post it! something about it really strikes a chord with me, some sort of patrick wolf vibe i think. effortless and strong, me likes. check him out!

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : eva simons - i don't like you

ahhhh! i had no idea eva was coming out with something new, her 'silly boy' single was too good and 'take over control' still gets a play once in a while :) love that she's kept that fab-oo-lous mohawk as well!  one gripe is the size of her name logo...it may be see-through but it should either be bigger (covering the whole cover) or smaller, with eva being the main focus.

p.s. anyone with "simon" in their name can do no wrong with me...

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : trina braxton - party or go home

so if you haven't been catching "the braxton family values" then you need to "get yo' life"! it follows singer toni braxton and her four sisters in their hectic lives and musical careers. trina is the second youngest sister and is just about to unleash her electro pop jams on the world (which she has been working on for two seasons!). here's the artwork to her debut single and i'm getting a classy, party vibe from this...i was worried it would come out as photoshopped mess as she has no major label backing, but she's really pulled it together!

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : rye rye - boom boom

i love when that kind of ms paint "cut and paste" artwork really works (it can look a complete mess...), m.i.a. does it so well and rye rye gives it a mainstream edge as well. two thumbs up :D

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : b.scott - bodyrock

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : trey songz - heart attack

NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : dev - take her from you

dev has been getting majorly busy releasing buzz videos for album tracks off of 'the night the sun came up' and i've been wondering when an artwork would arise for at least one of them! here's the first...it does take a still from the video and usually i DO hate that, but the video is so bad ass i'll let it slide this time :P

NEW DELUXE EDITION ARTWORK : monica - new life

mon has just revealed the deluxe edition cover for her latest album 'new life'... also check out the standard edition here...the two artworks are not majorrrly different and aren't a massive leap from her last album's visual offering. though for all my gripes, i know she'll serve up a solid audio treat, so i won't be complaining for long!

! updated ! NEW SINGLE ARTWORK : will young - losing myself

LIMITED EDITION : rihanna - talk that talk (navy officer's chest)

so i asked the faithful readers of simonsez-CD to vote for which LIMITED EDITION piece they'd like to be reviewed next and the winner was....rihanna's 'talk that talk (navy officer's chest)'! so let's dive into the sea of navy goodness...

so, the back story! this delightful piece was released as a strictly limited edition run (only 500 being made), along side the less opulent 'rihanna navy box' (also only 500 copies), to celebrate the release of riri's 6th album. not only were the pieces visually based around the original 'talk that talk' artwork and logo, but also inspired by the idea of 'the rihanna navy', the loyal fans of the bajan beauty. take a look at the outcome below:

the chest is truly a thing of beauty, the feel of it is pure quality and feels so solidly made.

the first (of mannnny) navy logos throughout the edition...

the details are delightful :)

each one is individually numbered...

and herrre we go...everything has it's place and is so well packaged and protected :)

even more purdy details, the hinge and tabs are made of ribbon.

the piece includes the deluxe edition of the album...

click "Read More" to see the rest of the review and my score for this piece! :)